Barclays star is quitting

Barclays shocked investors today with news that one of its top four executives is quitting.

Frits Seegers, who was poached from Citigroup three years ago to head Barclays' retail and commercial banking, is a victim of even greater power shifting to Bob Diamond, president of Barclays and boss of its investment banking operation BarCap.

Diamond will now also take charge of commercial banking under a new grouping called corporate and investment banking, which is likely to account for well over half of Barclays' profits.

The remaining global retail banking will be headed by Barclaycard chief executive Antony Jenkins, who was also poached from Citigroup three years ago. Seegers, who is Dutch and married to the late Indonesian president Sukarno's daughter, is likely to get a substantial pay-off.

Last year, with all Barclays directors, he received no bonus and took home a salary of £700,000. But the year before his pay and cash bonus totalled £2 million while share incentives took that to £4 million.